Leeds United or Burnley to go down: Jonathan Woodgate
Former Leeds United defender Jonathan Woodgate is hoping for the Whites to stay up in the top-flight of English football.
The Whites are currently involved in an intense relegation battle with Burnley and Everton as one of these three teams will join Norwich and Watford who are already certain to go down.
Woodgate, while speaking about the relegation battle via the Burnley Express, admitted that one out of Leeds or Burnley will go down to the second-tier of English football.
“I hope they [Leeds United] do stay up,” he said.
“It’s hard to judge. Everton have been brilliant the last few games, beating Chelsea at home and beating Leicester away and the victory against Man United as well. I think they’ll be okay now as they’ve got a couple of home games and I think they’ll pick up six points from those.
“It’s going to be down to Burnley and Leeds. They [Leeds]’ve been playing very well, and I thought they were clear of the danger, but have been dragged back in by the form of Burnley and Everton. But it’s out of Burnley and Leeds.”
Testing times
Leeds are going through a torrid campaign, plagued with injuries and the change of manager in the midseason with Jesse Marsch replacing Marcelo Bielsa after a series of poor results.
Following their recent defeat against Arsenal at the Emirates on the weekend, the Whites are now placed in the bottom three on the 18th position, level with 17th-placed Burnley but with an inferior goal difference.
Leeds fans would remain optimistic about the team’s chances of survival because of having two out of the three remaining matches at home, starting from Wednesday against reigning European champions Chelsea and later on Sunday against Brighton & Hove Albion. Their final outing is against Brentford.
But to make things worse Leeds, injury concerns will play a big role in deciding the team’s fate in the upcoming matches.
Striker Patrick Bamford is certain to miss the next three fixtures because of an injury whereas captain and star centre-back Liam Cooper is uncertain because of a fitness concern. The suspension of veteran full-back Luke Ayling is also likely to impact the team in the all-important matches.
Therefore, it will be interesting to see how Marsch will be able to turn it around for the struggling side without those superstars.
In other Leeds United news, Phil Hay has shared what Luke Ayling did in the dressing room after the defeat at Arsenal